Kaiteriteri Volunteer Fire Brigade is warming up to its Golden Jubilee, with the desire from its crew to safeguard the golden sand holiday hotspot and beyond still burning as strong as it ever did.
Ignited as the Kaiteriteri Auxiliary Volunteer Fire Brigade in 1976 after Kaiteriteri residents, Motueka Borough Council and Motueka Volunteer Fire Brigade sparked consensus, it first operated out of a single garage built by the Kaiteriteri Domain Board.
Bob Jamison was the first officer in charge, along with inaugural crew members Bill Poppelwell, Jack Duncan, Neil Dorne, Dave Kirby, Terry Stanbridge, Tom Rowling, and Barry Wilson.
On a blustery afternoon in 1983, the brigade spearheaded the response to the biggest fire event at Kaiteriteri.
It started at the former dump site and razed nearby buildings and swathes of gorse and wilding pines between Little Kaiteriteri Beach and the Stephens Bay Wetland.
Records show that more than 110 people were involved with quelling the fire and protecting homes.
Other notable incidents Kaiteriteri has rushed to include the Tākaka Fonterra Dairy Factory inferno in 2005 and, in April this year, Nelson Tasman’s largest gas leak, which occurred from a gas bottle at Waterfront restaurant, prompting campground evacuations and cordons.
The response from chief fire officer Jason Everett and six Kaiteriteri crew was deemed “an awesome job” given the significant ignition risk posed by the gas.
Michelle White blazed a trail for the brigade when she became its first female member in 1993. The second female member, Liz Thompson, joined almost two decades later.
Today, the brigade's 15 members include two operational female firefighters and two women in support roles.
Station officer Robin Thompson, who served as chief fire officer from 2022 to 2025 and has been a member since 2011, says volunteers have fuelled the brigade through five decades in a community dominated by seasonal residents and retirees.
"It has been a challenge at times to have the required membership at the brigade, but enough people in the community realise it’s essential due to the ongoing larger incidents that we face locally, and it'll be 20 minutes for Mārahau [brigade], and 20 minutes plus for Motueka [brigade] to get out here," he says.
"We're probably in as good a position as we've ever been now, we've done some good recruitments along the way and found the right people and managed to keep it going."
Longest-serving member Robin Parkes received the station's first Gold Star for 25 years of service in 2025.
The brigade will fire up its official 50th anniversary celebrations on Saturday, 17 October, with founding member Tom Rowling and veteran former officer in charge, Tony White, among the speakers.
